Chapter 82

We finished out second round of golf at five. We pulled out of the Northwoods at quarter after. I had to stop at home and change clothes and pick up Mrs. Trinh, who was also back at the house to get ready for the dinner. Kelli would meet us at the restaurant.

I was curious to see how big the hole was in the back yard. I honked at the Canadians as I pulled off and they honked back as they continued on to their hotel, which I'd learned was the Hilton Garden Inn near the airport, which made sense.

The digging was still going on, and the hole looked pretty impressive. While the big excavator I'd seen initially had obviously been involved in making the big hole, I saw that a large backhoe, a loader and a bulldozer were moving earth in the surrounding area as well. Digging the hole wasn't the only work being done, obviously. The initial stages of the landscaping were being done while the equipment was here as well.

Mrs. Trinh was nowhere to be seen when I went inside, so I used the time to make a quick trip to the basement to check on Net's progress. A lot more calls had been translated, and there were a flurry of new calls today between Paco Serna and 'Iron Man'. I would have to wait for those to be transcribed. Perhaps tonight I would be able to read those.

In the mean time, I began to piece together some sort of image of the relationship between Serna and 'Iron Man'. Based on frequent references, they had known each other when they were younger, but 'Iron Man' was not a gang member, at least not officially. He did fund a lot of the gangs operations, it seemed, as the conversations involved Serna asking about payment at least as often as they involved 'Iron Man' asking about some project or another.

Through the course of the transcriptions, 'Iron Man', or el hombre de hierro, as it was said in Spanish, got shortened to Hierro, which I eventually began shortening it in my head also. I instructed net to shorten it that way in the transcriptions from now on, capitalizing it to make sure it wasn't confused with someone actually using the word 'iron' in a more normal context.

After spending a little time with Net, I went upstairs and took a long shower, laid out some clothes to wear to dinner and then pulled out the laptop to look up Johnny Garlic's again. The GPS navigation in the Wrangler would get me there, I was sure, but I always liked to have some confidence that what it was telling me wouldn't steer me wrong. The directions were pretty straightforward and I stuck 'exit 498' in my head as the exit to take in getting off highway 101.

I checked my email, answered a couple of new ones from ADT and one of the managers at my bank. My donation to the Brookings-Harbor Basin restoration fund had tripped a flag there, and they were just following up. I sent a brief explanation with a few links, and told them to call me if there were still questions.

I was dressed and ready to go at seven. I went downstairs and found Mrs. Trinh also dressed and sipping a cup of tea in the living room. She was watching the Food Network of course.

She was wearing a very smart, but conservative dress. She looked good for an older woman, and much less matronly than her usual appearance. Obviously prepared to knock Guy Fieri's socks off, I thought.

The drive up to Windsor was quiet, though a little less so than normal. Mrs. Trinh was out of her shell a little bit tonight, and based on my meager familiarity, I thought she seemed prepared to enjoy herself.

The drive on River Road to the Redwood Highway was a familiar one by now. I laughed silently to myself as we drove past the airport and I saw a sign for the Hilton. I resisted the urge to look for the Ford Explorer my Canadian friends were driving. They too needed something big enough to cart their golf clubs around in.

I did indeed spot exit 498, and got off the highway at the appropriate time. From there, it was almost a matter of just following the signs. I found a place to park and escorted Mrs. Trinh to the entrance. Kelli was already there and waving at us as we came in.

"We're a few minutes early," she said, after a briefer than normal kiss, in deference, I assumed, to Mrs. Trinh's presence. "But we can sit at the bar until your friends get here."

"That sounds fine," I said. "Mrs. Trinh, can I get you something to drink?"

"I think an iced tea would be nice, thank you," she said.

Our drinks hadn't arrived yet when Don, Jacquelyn and Sebastien arrived. I waved at them from the bar, and they came straight over. Jacquelyn hugged me and I got hand shakes from Don and Sebastien.